Kind of a spin off from the ‘boot or no boots’ thread.
My newest guy will not leave bandages or anything on his front legs so I have not been bandaging and I am pretty happy with how his legs looks. He’s from Europe, and apparently they’ve never wrapped him over there either, not because he was a picker but because they don’t wrap their horses.
Thoughts? Discussion…
Honestly, wraps in the stall every night with no compelling reason is more for us then them. We need to feel like we are doing something. Yeah, if they tend to stock up it will reduce that but so will walking them for 15 minutes the next morning. Wraps don’t really add significant support to the tendons, afford only a little superficial protection against minor scrapes and bruises and protect wounds and bandages. If he’s just going to pick them off and there’s no compelling reason to use them, why bother? He hates them anyway, it’s no reward for a good school for him, it’s an annoyance. Let him be.
I wrapped mine at shows because I got tired of defending my choice not to and, honestly, some of those road stalls were pretty sketchy so even a little protection seemed sensible. My trainers all wrapped at shows, matching wraps of course. But because it looked nice and was expected more then anything else, didn’t wrap at home at all.
I had one horse years ago that simply would not tolerate keg wraps. We tried everything, no go, he was up all night picking them off. Looked like he’d been up all night too.
I don’t wrap or boot (low-level eventing) at shows or for trailering. I used brushing boots at my first HT for XC, but at this height, my mare isn’t really challenged, so I don’t currently use them. My mare came from Oklahoma to Ontario bare-legged without a scratch.
In general, I have a “less is more” mindset about most things horse. She’s barefoot, not because I religiously believe barefoot is the only answer, but because she does fine barefoot. I don’t wrap because I don’t see a need.
We don’t wrap. They get liniment and lots of hand walking but no wraps. Their legs have always been cold and tight.
Speaking of liniment… what is everyone’s favorite these days?
And what are we not allowed to use? I’ve been told sore no more will test, but I also see people using it at the show.
I can’t see why you’d change your routine at a show. If you don’t wrap at home I can’t see wrapping at a show.
We wrap at shows because the horses are doing more than they do at home. Between warming up and multiple rounds in huge Hunter rings, the horses are extending themselves more than a typical day at home, plus not getting turnout so some might tend to get stiff or a little puffier than usual. It can also provides some compression which can ease inflammation and swelling in the legs and keep the horse performing his best, as well as protecting legs from injuries from any show-stall antics.
BUT if your horse won’t leave them on then there isn’t any point to fighting with them 
Probable more dangerous to have them come unraveled and tangle than to just have him naked. Don’t feel bad about it, every horse has their thing, some just hate wraps!
There are 2 variations of Sore No More. The “Performance” one doesn’t (isn’t supposed to anyway) test. I’ve forgotten which ingredient(s) it is lacking as compared to the original product.
If the horse doesn’t need wraps and his legs look good, I’d just go without. In a scenario where you want or need to wrap one who likes to remove their wraps or is a shredder there are a couple options:
I used ‘at the show’ in the description, meaning… the horse is working hard.
Typically if I had a big jump school at home, I would also wrap.
If your horse won’t leave the wraps alone, I think you’re doing more harm than good by using them. He could get tangled in them, or even bow a tendon if he pulls on one enough. You can do plenty of good with ice boots (for 15 minutes post showing), cold hosing, liniment, and hand walking. I also see some people use poultice without the wrap on top. It still draws out inflammation, supposedly.
My horse looooves to destroy standing wraps, but we’ve been able to figure out a system that works for him and gives me some peace of mind (or at least makes me feel better for trying). Usually, after we jump I’ll ice, wrap with Sore No-More Performance, and leave him in his stall for a couple of hours. Someone is always around peeking in on him (usually me being a helicopter mom), in case he gets bored and wants to mess with his wraps. I usually make him a hay cube mash, so between that and his normal hay, this keeps him occupied long enough that he’s not even thinking about his wraps. I’ll pull them off a couple of hours later and take him for a nice long hand walk and I actually make him walk (no casual strolling around)! If I jump later in the day, I have to shorten the time he’s hanging out in standing wraps, but I try to still hand walk him afterward, even if it’s dark/late. Occasionally I like to poultice him, and I’ll follow our same routine but leave the paper on his legs after I take the standing wraps off. The paper is usually still wet to it stays on until he decides to rip it off, and if he does the paper isn’t going to cause any damage.
It’s taken us many years to figure out what works for him, and so far this is what works best. At this point, I think he knows that the wraps won’t be on very long so he doesn’t try to mess with them very much.
Sounds like you are on or very near the show grounds all day, not everybody has this luxury. Especially if you show late in the day and either drive home or to a distant hotel and the way you leave him an hour or so after your class is the way he’s going to have to stay over nite. If he’s going to spend all night unraveling them, safer to leave them off. As long distance, commercial haulers do.
His wraps never stay on all night.
Mine is only 4 and doing the 2’ division right now, but seeing as he thinks undoing velcro is GREAT FUN and always removes his bell boots in his stall, I do not see standing wraps in his future lol.
The big jumping horses get standing wraps after hard lessons at home and then at shows, those who will leave them on at least. I think it only really makes a difference on a couple of them who will get stocked up. We generally do not start wrapping until the horses are doing 3’ or higher, even then it depends on the horse. Liniment, definitely for all of them regardless of fence height. The horses we always wrap are the 3’6 + jumpers (but if they pulled wraps off we would not bother).
My two get wraps at the shows right now just because they both have previous injuries we’re trying to give as much help to as possible. My hunter pulls front wraps off and eats them, so he only gets hind wraps and my jumper gets all around.
I love the Back on Track no bows for their Theraputic properties, and use those exclusively with Sore No More Performance.
My philosophy is that if my arthritis/old injuries act up I put a brace or ACE bandage on them. Why not do the same for my horse if they have old tears/arthritis and we’re jumping either a lot (hunters) or fairly large (the jumper)? My current trainer, on the other hand, doesn’t wrap anything that doesn’t need it.
I don’t wrap now, just because mine doesn’t really need it. At most, I ice briefly. I would wrap, if I thought he had anything going on that would benefit from the extra support, but otherwise, I prefer to leave wraps off and keep as much heat away from their legs as possible.
I also don’t wrap or boot (aside from bells) when shipping, because again, he doesn’t need it, and I’d prefer to avoid a scenario where something comes undone in transit and creates issues, as well as preferring to keep his legs as cool as possible.
I’ve had horses who didn’t like wraps before, and they also remained un-wrapped. No point in causing them extra stress or annoyance just to wrap their legs (unless it’s medically necessary, obviously).
I am primarily a lower level eventer, and when I go to h/j shows, they are close enough that I ship in for the day, and turn my horse overnight at home. But even when I do stable overnight, I do not bandage overnight. If the horse has worked hard, I ice her legs for 20 minutes. But I do not bandage unless there is an actual injury.
We use a variety. Vetrolin, Sore No More, and have liked the new Back on Track product - I think it’s called Limber Up.
I forgot to add on my original post that we also pack the feet at night.
What warrants packed feet?
I’ve only packed with poultice to pull out an abscess. But I see horses all the time with packed feet.
Do you notice a difference when you don’t pack?
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